Jailbat
by aslan1140
Summary: Terry is charged for the murder of Bruce Wayne and a secret may soon be revealed. Please R&R I would really appreciate criticism and comments since I am not positive what I want to happen.
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and they are all C) to Warner Brothers and DC comics.**

**Jailbat is my new story, it is not a sequal to Fateful Illusions, in fact it has nothing to do with that, and it will possibly be shorter but I don't know yet we shall see. Thank you for coming to read and please enjoy. **

**May 17: 3:00AM**

It was 3'oclock in the morning and Terry was groggy after a long night of routine patrol. He had found a few Jokers and T's here and there but for the most part it had been a quiet night. Of course that didn't stop Bruce from keeping Terry out instead it made the old man more skeptical. The city was hardly ever quiet.

Terry groggily opened the front door and slammed his keys on the table. Long ago he once cared about being quiet in the wee hours of the morning so his mother and brother could get some sleep but that was long ago. He went to his room and collapsed on the bed. He wondered how much sleep an eye could carry, if he were to guess he would have about 15 tons every night. He soon passed out, a habit that tended to get him in trouble at school, but not now, not in his quiet bed this late at night….

In no time the usual alarm rang, and he groggily slammed it wondering how it wasn't broken by now. He rolled out of bed and slowly got ready for another long day of school.

His mom poked her head in and looked at the incredibly slow speed he was getting ready. His books were scattered all over the place which were evidence that he had attempted to do his homework before the usual call from Bruce.

"When you get home today we have to have a talk," Mary said with a sigh in her voice.

Terry snatched the books from the floor and shoved them into his pack before storming out of his room with the usual annoyance of his mom who would hound him about his grades and sloppy ways. She had already made him see a shrink about it who said these habits were due to an unconscious mind which had still not gotten over his father's death or some crap like that. Who cared anymore?

The bell rang and Terry was, of course, late for class. Mrs. Hill made a point every morning of locking the door, so Terry would have to sit there and bang on it every morning to get into class. She would open it, mark the tardy, and continue on with her lecture without caring that the late students had already missed half of it. This morning was no different.

As he walked into the classroom he noticed Max looking down at him with the usual sigh of understanding. She had always emailed him the notes and he knew that she would yet again. He made his way up to the seat and sat down. Mrs. Hill had already started again before he even sat down. He looked on the screen and read the note Max had sent him.

_When will the fun ever end?_

The message was accompanied by a very exaggerated cartoon of Mrs. Hill swimming in a pool of sharks. Terry smiled sleepily and emailed her a response:

_When pigs fly and the school is no longer filled with staff that are too afraid to tell her that she is overweight and has BO._

_How long did it turn out to be last night._

_3AM_

_Ouch_

_What's new?_

He was still amazed at how Max could pay attention to what the old teacher was saying, take notes, and still reply to his emails, all at the same time. It made her a prodigy in the art of multitasking. He then began to wonder if she could give him lessons of how to sleep, appear awake, take notes, and understand the information all at the same time. It was a wonder why he wasn't flunking by now.

The bell rang and he walked quietly to his locker. As he started to exchange books he heard his name called from someone far away in the hall. He quickly finished and slung his book bag on his back before turning to look. Oddly he found his mother and some random police officer standing by the office. Curious now he made his way through the busy hall to them. When he finally managed to make it he found tears in his mother's eyes. Before he had the chance to ask what was wrong the officer said,

"Terry Miginnis you are under arrest for the murder of Bruce Wayne, you have the right to an attorney-" The rest of what the officer said might as well have been said to a brick wall as he felt the cold handcuffs wrap around his wrist.

**I still am a jerk aren't I? I'm sorry to leave you guys hanging like this but I think that I can update on a pretty good rate as it is summer and I am homebound. What do you guys think so far? **


	2. Research

**Author: Don't ya hate it when you know exactly what to write and just can't put it down right? Its not really writer's block, its more along the lines of braindeadness anywhoot that is why I have not updated for so long. Evil brain! **

**Note: This chapter takes place a little over a month earlier (the dates are now placed for chapter 1 and this one.)**

* * *

**April 2: 12:35 AM**

"_He was his **father**!" Terry was on routine patrol. He could not see how the old man could be up all night driving with no music, no conversations, no nothing aside from the usual boring sights Gotham had to offer. And he did this for over 50 years? The guy had guts. Deciding not to take after his mentor in this way, Terry called up Max and she was currently describing possibly the oldest movie series still alive._

"_**Yeah, freaky huh? After that he gets knocked off the balcony and ends up hanging to a single pole, which separates him from a deadly, I don't know 1,000 foot drop, I mean its Cloud City ya know, so the drop's gotta be pretty long. Anyway then he loses his grip...**_**"**_ Before she could finish, Terry noticed a girl with a mask jump on a building with a bag slung over her back. _

"_Crap I've got a robbery, gotta go," He said with a sigh. "See you tomorrow." _

"_**Terry, may the force be with you**," Terry smiled and cut off the comm._

* * *

_Batman parked and quietly jumped out. He then looked around the rooftop and spotted her making a 10 foot leap across rooftops._

"_She must have been taking lessons from Obi One," he whispered not realizing he said that aloud. She looked off from the opposite rooftop and spotted him. "Great, stupid motormouth," he stammered as she fled the scene._

_He ran to catch up. She was very nimble, and Batman realized that quickly. She almost flew from rooftop, to rooftop leaving nothing but dust in her wake. Batman had to glide over the roofs, then run, glide, run, glide, it was nauseating. She finally relinquished the chase and stopped on a rooftop near the park. _

"_Alright Batman, I've had enough of this charade, come out of the dark," the woman stated. Batman glared from the shadows, his stealth on, he hoped that he would not be spotted. Angered the woman started walking around, looking in every possible hiding spot on the roof. Frustrated at finding nothing she yelled once more "No hiding games! Either you fight or I get away!" She was losing her nerve, Batman almost smiled._

_After a long time of searching, the woman finally became resolved that Batman was nowhere to be found, and started moving towards the stairs to this building. Batman followed as quietly as he could._

_They ventured into a nice apartment complex, Terry would later find the name as _Independent Gotham Plaza_, not a very fetchy name. She walked to room 304 and inserted a card key, Batman followed close behind. She turned to a vidscreen and dialed a number, Batman found a place to hide by the window if an escape were to be called for. A masked face appeared on the screen, **"Ah, Lady Shiva, you found the disk I presume?"** _

_The woman, apparently Shiva, held up a disk from the bag. "And the money?" She asked skeptically._

"_**All in due time. I have one last job before you get the price,"**_

"_And?"_

"_**Inque. Find and exterminate her, she puts us at risk,"**_

"_Understood," The woman said before signing off. Batman decided it was time to leave before he was discovered._

* * *

_He finally reached the car and discovered it sitting in the same exact condition it was from the start. "Well at least he doesn't have an excuse to eat my brains tonight," Batman said as he hopped into the vehicle and took off._

_He flew back towards the cave which he knew would be empty. Bruce was away on one of those rare buisiness trips he got, being the head of his company and all. He then noticed the time, 1:55 AM. "Great, another all-nighter. Bruce would open me up raw and with cheese if I didn't look into this Shiva thing. I hate school nights!"_

_He pulled into the cave and hopped out. Terry then walked to the computer and peeled back the mask. He went to the files and typed in "Shiva" and looked at what popped up. "Oh joy another one of Bruce's old Monkeys," And in fact that was partially true. The info stated that Sandra Woosan, or Lady Shiva, had ranked her way up near the top of the hierarchy for the League of Assasins, until she finally decided to leave and join the Cult of the Monkey fist, a rival league apparently. The League of Assasins managed to overthrow the cult, and Shiva went on the run. No matter how hard she tried she could not escape her fate and ended up being murdered by one of the League's own, Curare. _

"_Well that makes no sense whatsoever! If she's dead then how could it have been her back there? And frankly I don't think that woman was near as old as Bruce," He sighed and continued to dig. Finding nothing, he resolved to call it a night. As he packed up and began to leave an idea struck him. _

_He jotted back to the computer and typed in the last name Woosan Sandra, and entered it. A few seconds later a new window popped up. There were dozens, naturally. So he sorted them, by dates and three remained around the time where Bruce would have known her. He clicked on them and filed all the information. Everything, birthdate, license number, the works and dug through. For the second Sandra Woosan, he found one single file that peeked his interest. A birth certificate for a child that she apparently had, Renee Woosan._

_He looked at the clock and found out that it was 4 in the morning. He looked back to the screen, and then to the clock. It was a no-win situation. If he continued to look then he would definitely nod off during class, resulting in a detention, and a lecture from his mom. If he quit the research and went home, then a possible assassin would get away, Inque would be gooey toast, and he would get a lecture from Bruce. He made the decision that Bruce would be worse then the usual sleep-off mom-yelling situation so he searched for Renee Woosan._

_He found that Renee had been adopted, by the Donald and Lucinda McCain. After she turned twelve she became a missing case. Terry sighed and looked up the McCain's. They had been in the typical parents-need-to-adopt situation. After a surgery to remove cancer, Lucinda could not bear children. In their longing for a son or daughter they decided to adopt. So they went to the agency and found their perfect daughter, unaware that the mother who put her up for adoption had been one of Gotham's best mercenaries. Terry found that Donald had died of a lung infection and Lucinda was still alive. He transfrerred the address to the GPS in the car so he could go there ASAP the next day. He gave one last look to the clock and read 5:33 AM. Meaning that he would have just enough time to get home change and go to school. "What a perfect end to a perfect day," he grumbled finally taking his leave. He hated this job, no that was too simple, he **despised** this job._

* * *

**Okay a little better in length but still short -- I'm not used to writing in one POV lol. So every other chapter will be past/present. I posted the date on the first chapter. (If I did not you have license to shoot me in your review, and I shall fix with a good beating by myself.) The next shall be the interrogation oh how I love interregations! I'm evil! I just noticed that too, after writing another story on torture, I go to the same topic, even in a humorus short story I'm cruel to the main character! goes to shrink**

**Aslan: **Well doc, I think it started with a series of dreams I've had. They were really weird. It was like a chain of Pokemon coming at me in a stampede saying "The Uru Khai shall eat your brains and make you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.

**Doc: **Why that's elementary my dear Watson, you watch too many horror movies, Batman movies, and play too many pokemon games. What you need…

**Pikachu: **Pika, Pika!

**Aslan: **Ahhhh! Its started! See see!

**Speaking of Batman movies, have you seen Batman Begins? Its got my all time favorite villans in there (Scarecrow, Ra's who could compete with those two?), its da bomb!**


	3. Interrogation

**May 17, 6:49 PM**

Terry was seated in a room. Bright fluorescent lights set the mood for this place where many of Gotham's most notorious criminals were first interviewed. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago since Terry sat in this chair last when he was persecuted for breaking and entering as well as attempted thievery. Who would have thought that one day he would sit here again for homicide?

A detective was sent into the room, obviously after having consorted a plan with the other detectives that were sitting behind the glass in the viewing room. Terry knew how this worked all too well. He figured Barbara Gordon was sitting in that room this very minute. It was unclear at this point what her idea was of this matter, as he had not had the chance to see her alone yet.

"So, as I hear it you worked for Mr. Wayne after school?" The detective began with the simplest of all questions.

"Yes." Terry responded smoothly.

"What exactly do you do for Mr. Wayne?" Terry could already tell what strategy the detective was using. He was talking in present tense, trying to dissuade Terry from feeling like everything was over. It was a good cop approach, keep things calm and see if the suspect would talk. It was a typical start to any normal interrogation.

"I didn't catch your name or badge number." Terry quipped, promoting the idea that he was not an ordinary suspect, and would not be as cooperative about his prosecution.

"My name is Doyle. Jarod Doyle. Would you like to see my badge?" The detective answered.

"Yes I would," Terry stated, unperturbed by Dole's attempt at intimidation, nobody would be more intimidating then the person this detective believed Terry had killed.

Detective Doyle reached into his pocket and proceeded to show Terry his badge.

Terry made sure to study it and memorize the badge number 370986, in case it was necessary to know in the near future. "Thank you" Terry said.

"Now can we get back to the question?" Doyle answered in a cool tone.

"Certainly. I run errands for him, in the form of picking up groceries, dry cleaning, washing cars, sometimes more exotic things, just whatever he needs me to do. Mr. Wayne is older than he used to be and can't do all the things he used to be able to." Terry answered simply. He felt that Barbara probably would not like his approach of Mr. Wayne being senile, but it was mostly true, especially for the job Terry really did, the old man had even admitted it himself several times.

"So you're telling me that he has you do these -errands, until late in the evening? Say even as late as 4 or 5'oclock in the morning?" Doyle asked.

"As I stated, he is getting older, and has a large amount of things that needs to be taken care of," Terry responded.

"So what were you doing for him last night, Terry?" Doyle asked.

"I was taking out his trash, feeding, and walking his dog. As well as running an important errand for him that involved a project he is currently head of in Wayne Powers. It is company policy to not reveal what the project is at this time, and if I do so there will be major repercussions to the business and I do not think you would be happy to deal with a lawsuit from wayne powers today now would you?" Terry responded defensively. "And before this interview continues I would like a lawyer."

"Of course," Doyle answered, obviously not too happy about this.

The detective rose from his chair and gave Terry a menacing look as he walked into the other room. The guards that surrounded Terry then began to escort him to a holding cell where he would apparently be spending the night.

Terry paced in the cell. Not really knowing what would come next.

How had this happened? Was Bruce really dead? Did they even have a body? What evidence did they have? He felt his stomache churn as he thought of these things.

Terry had been hopeful that Gordon would come now that he was in the cell. Holding cells in this prison were different from cells where the incarcerated stayed. Since the Justice system was forced to assume innocent until proven guilty, security cameras were not installed in these cells. This had been a huge debate at the supreme court nearly thirty years before. An elderly woman was charged with arson, and complained that she failed at court due to not getting sleep the night prior because security cameras violated her privacy. She ended up winning the case and was forced to go into retrial about the arson, which she inevitably lost again.

Knowing that the cameras were down, he was intrigued when Gordon did not come to the cell. Knowing that there were many possible reasons she did not come, were not calming at all to Terry. Perhaps there was a body. Perhaps the evidence against Terry were insurmountable. It could also be that she was still playing her part. If she were found to be involved with Terry at all she would not be able to continue investigating his case, or worse, she could be found to be a coconspirator. Either way, he knew that there had to be a good reason for her not showing up, but he also hoped against hope that he could talk to her before this was all over…

Sighing he walked over to the so called 'bed' and sat down. Tonight would not be a night that he would be sleeping, therefore all he could do was wait until the morning.

**May 18, 5:53 AM**

Terry was awoken by a guard. It was time for him to shower in the cold showers of the prison. Too many memories came flooding back to Terry from when he was in juvie. Showers were the place that so many fights broke out. Where people planned, and plotted supposed escape attempts that would never come to pass. It was one of the few times that the prisoners had even a fragment of seconds to converse with no guards around.

Terry knew to be wary of the people around him. The training and discipline instilled in him from Bruce's training had taught him how to handle situations like this without any hint of nervousness. Regardless, he kept his guard up, there was no telling who he would run to in here.

The guard handed him a towel, shampoo, and soap. He opened the door and let Terry proceed inside. As the door closed behind him Terry did spot a familiar face. Ira Billings. Billings had been the school counselor at his high school, but was later incriminated for using the private sessions with students to gather information about friends, family, or in Terry's case bosses of the supposed students. Using this information as Spellbinder he proceeded to rob those wealthy individuals. The last time Terry had come across Spellbinder, however, was when Spellbinder convinced Barbara Gordon that Batman had killed Mad Stan. It ended up well, but was a good demonstration of the power Spellbinder had over people's minds. The one thing that perplexed Terry was why he was here and not in Arkham where he really belonged.

"Terry McGinnis?" Billings asked, surprised to see his former patient here. "What are you doing here? Decided to go back to crime after so long being away from it?"

Terry looked at him then continued to the shower without saying a word.

"You know I thought you would have changed after what those Jokers did to your dad. At one point the way you were acting in school I thought you were going through a hero complex. I see that I was wrong," Billings shot back at Terry's silence.

Terry stripped and turned on the water, to silence the disturbed man.

After he finished his shower, Terry put his clothes back on and walked out of the shower, noting that Billings was gone. Relieved, he continued to the guard so that he could be escorted to the interrogation room.

"Mr. McGinnis, nice to meet you my name is Tobias Durymple, I'm the lawyer you requested. I was also assisted Mr. Wayne through a few court cases over the course of 32 years. It's a pleasure to meet you." The well practiced lawyer offered Terry his hand.

Terry accepted and shook hands.

"So what have they asked you so far?" Tobias asked, getting right to business.

"The usual, what I do for Wayne, where I was the night of the murder, that sort of thing," Terry answered agreeably.

"What did you tell them?" Tobias continued.

"That I was running an errand for the company that Mr. Wayne is in charge of." Terry answered.

"Did you mention any witnesses that can confirm this as an alibi?" Tobias questioned, now getting into the grit of the information.

"No but there is one," Terry responded.

"Who?" Durymple asked.

"Her name is Maxine Gibson. I failed to mention it because the interrogation did not get far enough for them to ask if anyone else was there." Terry stated factually.

"Quite alright," Tobias began to take notes. "Okay, I think we can continue with the interrogation if you're ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

The guards nodded a response then left the room to bring out the detective again.

Doyle marched heftily inside and sat down after tugging at his shirt to rid it of its wrinkles. Apparently Doyle didn't sleep much last night either, since it was the same suit he had worn the night before.

"The first question is one I'll ask you," Tobias began. "What evidence do you have to support your claim that my client is guilty of this crime?"

"We found a gun with the victim's blood on it. McGinnis's fingerprints, hair, and other sources of DNA were found all over it. We also have several witnesses claiming to have seen him with the victim the night of the murder acting aggressively against him. The body has yet to be found." Doyle answered. Terry was surprised at how detailed his response had been. If he wanted information out of Terry it would have been wise to not reveal all of this, especially about the witnesses and the body not being found. What was he getting at.

"How about we continue where we last left off Mr. McGinnis?" Doyle said.

Terry continued to look at him calmly.

"Were you and Mr. Wayne having an argument that night?" Doyle asked simply.

"Yes. Ace was in the car with us and was acting aggressive. I told him that we shouldn't leave Ace in the car before we went into the office and he disagreed. When Mr. Wayne's authority is questioned he becomes really aggressive, any of his coworkers could tell you that." Terry responded.

"When was this?" Doyle asked.

"Around 5:17 that night." Terry recalled precisely looking at his watch, thinking that they would be late for the meeting that was scheduled at thirty minutes past the hour.

"When did you last see him?" Doyle asked.

"After I dropped him off from the meeting. I talked to him afterwards though when I was running his errand." Terry answered.

"Is there anyone you know of aside from Mr. Wayne that can testify in a court that you were nowhere near the vicinity of the manor during the hour of 5'ocklock yesterday morning?" Doyle was acting as if this was all routine. Although homicides were fairly common in Gotham, Terry was still slightly intrigued by the way Doyle was posing these questions. Something didn't fit…

"Yes, her name is Maxine Gibson." Terry answered, deciding to play along for now and keep his eyes on Doyle as the interview progressed.

"Thank you." Doyle looked through the window where the other detectives were obviously watching from, as a signal to jot down the name.

"Now Mr. McGinnis, do you own a firearm?" Doyle asked.

"No," Terry replied simply. "I never have."

"When did you last affiliate with anyone you know who has owned a firearm?" Doyle was finally beginning to look more serious now, and Terry was beginning to notice a pattern. All of the questions Doyle asked him that seemed to incriminate Terry, Doyle would act as if it were standard procedure. When he asked a question where Terry could provide evidence of his innocence Doyle would act serious like this. Maybe this case wasn't as solid as they were trying to make it look after all?

"I go to high school with several people who own guns." Terry responded. It was an obvious answer, Terry was slightly confused as to why Doyle asked that question in the first place.

"Yes, but how many of those students are people you would consider friends? Or enemies?" Doyle began to egg. He was trying to defend Terry…

"Lots of people in the school dislike me, because of the status of my boss. Several other students grew a personal vendetta against me because of the history we established over my time of knowing them." Terry answered intelligently. Tobias must have thought that Terry was doing an excellent job, because he had not said a word, only take notes.

"Could you name some of these individuals?" Doyle egged on even further.

"Yes. Nelson Nash, Willie Watt, and Carter Wilson all have reason to have a vendetta against me or my friends." Terry was sure it wasn't any of those perks though as he said them. Nelson was too wimpy to hurt a fly. Watt had telepathic abilities that he prized over standard weapons, and Carter had more of a vendetta against Max then him.

"Thank you Mr. McGinnis. You may now go back to your cell until we need you for further questioning." Doyle said. Terry was surprised at how short the interview had lasted.

He was again escorted to his cell. He again waited there hoping to see Barbara, but she never came…

**I finally decided to work of this story again! Still not completely sure where I'm going with it, but I will continue to work on it and let it play itself out. We'll see where it goes, I know what needs to go on in the next chapter at least, so that's a start.**


	4. Investigation

**April 3, 3:45PM**

_It was the end of the school day, and Terry had already asked Max to help him clear his schedule. This Shiva thing was going to take a lot of work and any worry of Dana or his Mom needing him as his alter ego could cause issues. As he headed to his motorcycle from his last class Dana cornered him anyway._

"_**Terry is everything okay?**__" She asked._

"_Yea, why wouldn't it be?" Terry responded, checking his watch for the time. There was no time that the hit was supposed to take place necessarily, but Terry had to talk to the McCain mother first and any precious second lost put Inque more at risk._

"_**I don't know it just seems like whenever Mr. Wayne goes out of town he makes you do so much more work than normal," **__Dana said with obvious worry on her face. "__**Its not fair to you,"**_

"_Sure it is. There's more to keep up when he's gone and he pays me extra for the work. You just worry too much," He smiled at her, genuinely wishing as he always did that he could really tell her why he spent so much time at work._

"_**He should take care of things before he leaves though. He never gives you a break ever."**__ She responded._

_Terry almost sighed. They had had this conversation numerous times. He knew she wanted to see him more, but he would never be willing to sacrifice lives for their relationship. "We'll talk about this later. Maybe find some time we can always meet?" He answered. There had to be a compromise somewhere._

_Dana finally smiled, then gave him a peck on the cheek. "__**We'll see what happens Tiger,**__" she answered while pushing a piece of her Brunette locks from her face. "__**Go and do your thing**__"._

_Terry smiled back at her then started up the motorcycle and headed to the McCain house._

_The neighborhood was quiet, it was unsettlingly normal. Places like this always had something going on beneath the surface. Batman soon hoped to find out what that would be here. _

_He stopped the car by the house with the address of 322 wondering why this neighborhood only had three numbers in its addresses while all of the surrounding neighborhoods had four. It was contrary to what he was doing anyways so he shrugged it off and rang the doorbell._

_A middle aged woman, appearing to be in her mid fifties came to the door. She almost jumped when she saw who it was, when Terry realized that he hardly ever rang a doorbell as Batman. Oh well first time for everything._

_The door slammed open, almost knocking Batman in the head. _

"_**Oh my God I'm so sorry!**__" The woman exclaimed, exasperated that she almost gave the crime fighter a concussion by mistake._

"_I caught you off guard, its alright. I have some questions about your daughter," Terry explained._

"_**Oh please come in,**__" The woman looked at her door and noticed it was slammed so hard she knocked it off its hinges. Batman noticed this too for the first time and took note to not make this woman angry._

"_**Oh dear,**__" she responded to the sight._

_Batman gave a sort of half smile as he walked inside._

_From the outside the house looked like every modern suburban home, but inside it was vast. The designers must have known how to make the best use out of any space they had. There were dark hardwood floors and bright greens and yellows adorned the walls of the foyer. As the woman walked towards the kitchen, Batman did notice the lack of pictures. There were none of any sort adorning walls or furnishing; not family, not even art was hung, and everything seemed so bare, so naked, it was unsettling._

"_Did you move recently?" Batman asked, although the files on the Bat computer stated that the McCain's had resided in this house for well over fifteen years._

"_**No, no I've lived here a very long time,**__" Mrs. McCain responded honestly, which was a good start._

"_Do you have any pictures of your family?" Batman stayed calm, focused, and initiated._

"_**I put them up after Don died, it was so sudden, and before he was gone Rachel had already left. Being reminded of what used to live in this house was too much for me to take,**__" She responded._

"_So you just want to forget them?" Batman couldn't help but go on this tangent, maybe he could find the reason that Renee had left. The fact that they had decided to rename the girl was evidence enough that she had been cared about here._

"_**You couldn't understand what its like to be betrayed by someone you loved, and raised her whole life, then lose the only other person that mattered to you in the same year!**__" She was beginning to become upset, Batman knew to back off now._

"_I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. I meant that it is usually easier to remember loved ones by remembering the better times not the worst." Batman responded calmly._

"_**I'm sorry Batman, it's been a difficult night. I was just laid off at work and… why did you say you were here?**__" The woman was obviously rather emotional right now, and was still a little shocked about Batman randomly coming to her house._

"_Let's sit down," He responded gently._

_She hesitantly sat, and looked at Batman with a nervous look in her eyes._

"_I'm here to talk about Rachel. Why did she leave?" Batman asked._

"_**She left seven years ago when she found out that she was adopted.**__" Lucinda McCain answered, now calming down some. "__**I don't think I'll ever see her again…**__"_

"_How did she betray you?" Batman asked, insightfully._

"_**What?**__" Lucinda responded._

"_Earlier, you said you were betrayed by a loved one. Why did Rachel betray you?" Batman repeated._

"_**Oh Rachel never betrayed us. Never. No it was my nephew. His mother died when Rachel was only six, he was five at the time and no one else in the family wanted him. I don't know what they did to that boy when he was young, but the scars stayed with him his whole life…**__" McCain was staring at the floor now lost in thought._

_It was a typical Gotham story. Batman became curious. "What was his name?"_

"_**Steven Stan,**__" She answered. Batman was shocked, Mad Stan came from this home too? Was this just a coincidence? _

"_Did Rachel leave to find her parents?" He changed the subject before things had a chance get hairy._

"_**I don't know where she went when she left. She was so upset she didn't even talk to us. She just went out the door and was gone. I haven't heard from her since. I should have told her when she was growing up, but… I just didn't have the courage to. She must think that her whole life is a lie now, I can only imagine how scary that must be. I knew that would happen, but I still never told her.**__" A tear ran down the poor woman's face._

"_It takes a lot of courage to do." Batman said sympathetically. "Someday she'll realize that her real family was here. Someday she'll come back, they all do in the end. Trust me I've seen it."_

_Lucinda looked up at him with hopeful eyes, "__**I hope so,**__"_

_Batman checked the time and decided on one more question. "Do you know who her parents were?"_

"_**No I don't,**__" she answered._

_He nodded. "Thank you for your time,"_

_She watched as he left, wondering why exactly he had come…_

_**April 3, 6:16PM**_

_Terry had tailed Inque long enough to know the pattern in which she worked. She liked to take expensive cases, usually dealing in thievery, although sometimes she went for assassinations. Having once been her target, he had made every effort to know what clients she enjoyed working for the best. And the Powers' was her all time favorite clients, since they tended to pay and not ask questions or add anything to their deals. Since Blight was still incarcerated, the person who most likely hired her was his son, Paxton Powers._

_Batman swooped to the window of the very ritzy condominium that Powers currently owned but could not afford. Powers had attempted to murder Bruce when the old man found an illegal art collection Powers owned. He failed of course, and had spent a good amount of time in jail. The prison had released him a few days ago, and this was the only logical place he would be._

_He flew to the roof of the building. This condominium had easy roof access because it was a green roof. A small garden could be viewed here, with some fruits and flowers that were so rare and exotic it would have made Poison Ivy jealous. This was a really ironic thing, since before he took over Wayne Powers, Paxton had been renowned for dumping waste in rivers and polluting the environment. Batman tried to picture what would have happened if Powers and Ivy had ever met and smiled a bit._

_There was a door that led to a set of stairs which Batman figured would lead to his victim for the night. He quietly and carefully walked down the set of stairs. The element of surprise was something Bruce had taught him well. If you really want to scare someone you need to make a good first impression, and there was nothing Batman would have liked better than scare the willies out of Paxton. Paxton had already abused Batman once before. Where he thought he was helping Derek Powers by trapping him to send to jail, Batman had soon realized that Paxton wanted instead to kill both Derek and him. Batman was looking forward to this._

_He slowed when he heard Paxton's voice at the bottom of the stairs. "Well give me everything you can! No… No I'm not going to go to the cops! Do you not understand? If I call the cops then they'll arrest me!" _

_There was a long pause in which Batman slowly slinked in the room and behind Paxton to get a better view at the situation. Paxton was on a mobile telecomm, a new device that began as a simple earring speaker and would extend a thin microphone when a call was made. It had recently been produced by Wayne enterprises, and they sold like hotcakes._

"_Comeon Joe I need the money! I won't ask twice. If you don't do this for me then Jack gets it understand? GOODBYE MR. WALKER!" Paxton disconnected angrily. As the microphone retracted back into the ear ring, Batman realized that he had heard that name before. Joe Walker was King from the Royal flush gang. Paxton had probably hired him to steal something and was using his kidnapped son for bait. Something that was typical from Paxton._

"_So you kidnapped Jack?" Batman asked. A smile crossed his face when he saw Paxton jump several inches off the floor._

"_Ba… Batman? What are YOU doing here?" Paxton said, trying his best to keep the fear down. It wasn't working to well._

"_What did you do with Jack?" Batman asked._

"_I didn't do anything to him, he came to me." Paxton responded very unconvincingly._

"_Don't make me hurt you Paxton, I may enjoy it to much. Answer the question." Batman was obviously enjoying this._

_Paxton gave Batman a glare. "Why did you really come here?"_

_Batman's hand whipped like a light as he slammed into Paxton's nose. Paxton fell to the floor stunned. Batman pinned him down with his elbow. "Where is Jack?"_

"_Okay okay! He's at the railway station. I have him being guarded by Shrieve I promise!" He answered looking like he was about to pee all over himself._

"_Have you dealt with Inque in the past few days?" Batman asked, not relinquishing his hold on Powers._

"_Inque was my Dad's assassin, I've never used her!" Batman glared straight into his eyes. "Honest!"_

_Believing him, Batman threw him against the adjacent wall, just for good fun before heading back out into the night._

"_Bastard…" Powers shot to the shadow that the Bat had just resided in._

_**April 3, 8:39PM**_

_Batman landed the car seamlessly next to the train tracks. Most train tracks were out of commission. When the hover cars came about trains became less proficient to upkeep and were sense abandoned. This was one of the last train stations left standing on the East coast. Many Gothamites were pushing for it to be bought out as a museum instead of being scrapped._

_Batman opened the door to the car, and let his new assistant jump out first. Ace's tail wagged profusely as he waited for Batman to hop out of the car himself. But he had to grab something first._

_When he hopped out he held out a simple playing card that had recently belonged to Jack. He had consulted Melanie about it right before picking up the hound. Apparently she still stayed in touch with at least her mother and brother. _

_Ace came up for a sniff, then looked up at Batman with a curious look. Asking what he was to do._

"_Go find him boy,"_

_The dog almost nodded in understanding as his nose went directly to the floor. Bruce had discovered through genetic tests that the dog did have some bloodhound a little down his line. _

_Ace took off across the tracks, with Batman running to keep up. After quite some time of running and slowing, just to start running again, the two reached an isolated building that once was used to store materials for use in maintaining the tracks. Ace stopped, looked up to his partner and whined._

"_Good boy, we'll get you a nice big bone when you get home. But for now how about we take these guys down?" Ace stood at attention, just waiting for his chance at a fight. "Here we go." _

_Stealthily, Batman slinked up to the long ago broken window that was the only view to the small dilapidated building, and peeked inside. There he saw Jack unconscious and tied up, but no sign of Shriek. This was unnerving, there was very little chance that he and the mutt had been heard or seen. Shriek wasn't one to typically abandon his work either._

_It all seemed to make sense though when he was whacked upside the head by the blunt of a sword. A very sharp sword, that belonged to a very dangerous assassin._


End file.
